Elevating the NFL: 3 Proposals for the Future
The NFL is great. I’d go so far as to say it’s the best sports league in the world. In fact, it’s probably one of the best things about planet earth in general – definitely in the top 10. One day, an advanced alien race will probably find our small blue planet, and they will say, “Greetings, Earthlings. What is this magnificent sport being played in this stupendous league?” Then, they will recruit us to their galactic coalition of planets, and everything will be amazing.
With all of that being said, that still doesn’t mean that the NFL can’t be improved upon. After all, the league is always tweaking itself. Over the past few years we’ve seen changes like adding another week to the regular season and increasing the number of playoff teams.
Well, as I watched this year’s Super Wild Card Weekend, I felt a wave wash over me. What was this mighty wave, you ask? It was the big blue wave of inspiration, dear reader – inspiring me to offer up these three proposals, these three ways to improve upon an already great league and make it even better.
Proposal No. 1: Battle for the 7th Seed
Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m not a fan of having seven teams making the playoffs in each conference. Personally, I thought the old playoff format, with two teams in the AFC and two in the NFC receiving byes, worked really well. So far, after three years of having three Wild Card teams, No. 7 seeds are 0-6. These teams haven’t been too deserving of really being in the playoffs.
So what can be done about this? It’s clear that the NFL is never going to eliminate games now that it’s added them since more games equals more money. I propose that to fix this problem, the solution is actually to add another game.
Before Super Wild Card Weekend, the NFL should have two games, one per conference, between teams with the seventh and eighth best records, with the winner being awarded the No. 7 Seed and a spot in the playoffs. Currently, the NFL gives teams a week off between the Conference Championship and the Super Bowl. This off week could be moved to between the conclusion of the regular season and the wild card round when only these two games would take place. It would have the added benefit of giving the 12 teams that had already qualified for the playoffs a chance to get healthier.
This past season, we saw instances in both leagues where the teams that finished in seventh and eighth had the exact same records so tie breakers had to be used. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins were 9-8 in the AFC, and the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions were 9-8 in the NFC. I would’ve much rather seen these teams battle it out to see who truly deserves a shot to continue their season.
Another advantage of this is that more teams would be in the mix to have another game, making a shot at the playoffs heading into the final weeks of the regular season a reality for even more teams, and resulting in more meaningful games for fans.
Proposal No. 2: A Winner, You Must Be
This suggestion is brought to you by the Tom Brady-led and Todd Bowels-coached 2022 Tampa Buccaneers, a team that finished with a losing record, but still snuck into the playoffs since it plays in a dumpster fire of a division. Basically, if you don’t have a winning record, you shouldn’t be eligible to qualify for the postseason.
Teams shouldn’t be rewarded with a playoff appearance simply because they play in an awful division. The point of the playoffs should be that it’s a tournament between the best teams – there shouldn’t be space set aside for lucky losers. If a team doesn’t win it’s division with a winning record, another wild card team should qualify for the playoffs. This year, that would’ve meant the Lions getting in over the Bucs.
NFL divisions are pretty arbitrary to begin with. The Dallas Cowboys are the fifth closest team in the entire NFC to the West Coast, but play in the NFC East. Indianapolis is north of Cincinnati, but the Colts are in the AFC South and the Bengals are in the AFC North.
I could probably be convinced of the idea to just seed the playoffs completely based on record without regard for division, as is done in the NBA. But as a good start, the league should definitely implement a system where losing teams don’t make the playoffs instead of clubs in other divisions with winning records.
Proposal No. 3: The Lottery
Speaking of the NBA, one thing basketball definitely does better than the NFL is the way it formats its draft. As a New York Jets fan, I spend a lot of my time thinking about the NFL Draft. The last time my team made the playoffs, Barack Obama was president of the United States and Instagram had been just released.
Under the current NBA lottery system, the draft order for the top four picks is chosen by a lottery, with each of the teams that doesn’t qualify for the playoffs having a chance for one of the top slots. The teams with the three worst records each have a 14% chance of the first pick, with subsequent teams having less and less of a chance depending on how well they finished the season.
Picks 1-10 for the 2023 NFL Draft, as they currently are, based soley on record.
I like the idea of the top four picks of the NFL Draft being determined by a lottery. I’m not sure we need all 18 teams that miss the postseason to be entered, but maybe the bottom ten teams could all have a chance, with the odds decreasing for better teams.
With the current way NFL draft picks are awarded, just going by record, teams are too incentivized to tank late in the season. This year, Houston Texans fans lamented the fact that their team finished its season with a meaningless win when a loss would’ve netted the Texans the first overall pick in the 2023 Draft. These fans are right to be upset because under the current format the right decision really would be to lose on purpose. Changing the draft would help eliminate the idea of tanking late in the season for a better draft pick and add another fun element to the draft with the determination of the draft order for the first four picks by lottery.